The Police – Here In New Haven (Wardour-106)

Disc 1: (44:18) Voices Inside My Head, Message In A Bottle, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Spirits In The Material World, Band Introduction, Hungry For You, When The World Is Running Down You Make The Best Of What’s Still Around, The Bed’s Too Big Without You, De Do Do Do De Da Da Da, Demolition Man, Shadows In The Rain

Disc 2: (48:05) Walking On The Moon, Bring On The Night, One World (Not Three), Invisible Sun, Roxanne, Don’t Stand So Close To Me, Can’t Stand Losing You/Reggatta De Blanc/Be My Girl, So Lonely

Here In New Haven is a much welcomed release from Wardour that captures The Police midway through their Ghost In The Machine tour. The massive tour started at the end of July 1981 in Caracas, Venezuela and ended September 1982 in the States taking them through Europe twice, South America, and three separate legs in North America. The show in New Haven was supported by The Go-Go’s and the event took place in front of a sold out audience of 10,563.

The recording comes from a very good to near excellent audience source. It is slightly distant but clear and everything can be heard equally in the mix for the most part. There is some nearby audience interference picked up here and there but nothing that would otherwise ruin a good listening experience.

The band takes the stage during “Voices Inside My Head” and launch right into “Message In A Bottle”. The band sounds solid and Sting says hello to New Haven in the chorus. The Police are traveling with three horn players and some horn parts can be heard in the background during the choruses of “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”. They aren’t too intrusive and help to fill out the song. Sting questions the pronunciation of Connecticut before they work into “Spirits In The Material World”. Sting has no problem singing over the intricate bass lines and again the horns have some underlying parts with one of them covering the piano melody during the solo. He introduces the horn players after “from New Jersey…Dave, Daryl, and Marvin”.

Sting introduces (and sings) “Hungry For You” in French and says “it’s all about fuckin’ people”. It features a nice jazzy saxophone solo and Andy Summers gets his turn to rip at the end. Sting and Stewart Copeland play around with the groove a bit before getting into “When The World Is Running Down”. There is a real nice funky bass section in the middle and they continue non-stop into “The Bed’s Too Big Without You”.

“De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” has a really nice groove going and acts as a vehicle for one of Sting’s massive “Yo Yo Yo” sing alongs. Sting talks of the previous nights show in Madison Square Garden and says “the roof moved” and that he “expects the same tonight…Don’t mess around with the ‘Demolition Man”. Andy Summers has a couple of nice raw edgy guitar solos in this one.

The second disc starts off with a couple from the second album. “Walking On The Moon” sounds excellent and has another “Yo Yo Yo” sing along near the end. “Bring On The Night” has some nice finger picking from Andy Summers and they capture the mood of the track perfectly. Unlike the studio track, it finishes very upbeat.

The horns return for “One World” and the main solo is played on saxophone. The band follows with “Invisible Sun” including an added guitar solo from Summers. He starts the opening chords for “Roxanne” before “Invisible Sun” fades. The three horns replace the backing harmonies in the choruses and sound a little out of place during this one. The middle gets very loose as they play a different arrangement of the familiar track. The crowd doesn’t seem to mind as the song gets a huge applause at the finish.

After a cut in the tape (no music lost), the low keyboard drone sounds for “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” as the first encore gets underway. They quickly follow with “Can’t Stand Losing You” without missing a beat which runs about eight minutes including parts of “Regatta Be Blanc” from the second LP and some crown participation with vocals references to “Be My Girl” from their debut, Outlandos d’Amour. They return a second time and Sting jokingly asks “what do you wanna hear…one at a time”. He says “I know what I want to hear” as they break into a killer version of “So Lonely”, with a rippin’ solo from Andy, to finish the night. Sting sings “Here in New Haven” a few times during the track much to the crowd’s delight before introducing the band one last time.

Here In New Haven is a nice sounding document from the Ghost In The Machine tour that comes packaged in a slimline jewel case adorned with live photos throughout. This release was a nice surprise and I really hope Wardour continue to offer more Police titles in the near future.